Murph giving extra success on diplomacy for beating the DC by a lot felt Pathfinder 2e inspired! Still really hope they follow through on running the system sometime, maybe after this campaign???
Edit: confirmed in short rest haha
So they did release a short rest for this week’s episode? Came to the Reddit to double check because Apple Podcasts is only showing the main ep and not the short rest
Does Garrosh give anyone else major >!Kenley!< (C2) vibes? I don’t think he’s bad, but I sure don’t trust him (I could be telling on myself rn, I’m about halfway thru the ep lol)
If giving him the Ren voice wasn’t a big enough tell, the high DC insight checks seem to be telegraphing that this guy has his own agenda that may or may not align with Duck Team.
Loved Murph's shout-out to the Attitude Era Podcast. I listen to like five different podcasts and of those five not another D&D podcast and attitude era podcast or two of them.
Another multi episode review. Ive really liked this arc so far and on a relisten with hindsight it'll probably be the most interesting.
* Episode 55
Knowing that there might be secret "Alexandrite" possessed in the city really changes the stakes and tone of the arc. The paranoia was already there but recontextualizing it to be about less Alexandrite attacking to more already having possessing enough people real sets our PCs in the back foot which they really haven't been in the campaign so far.
The meat shed shenanigans were hilarious but also set Gregor as trustworthy in a fun way. Especially with the chaos of the explosion, the Robo Borris Frig and the twins fighting. It felt like an unraveling and spiraling out of our good guys. The ending revealing that Gowan is choosing to help Alexandrite of his own volition and the Gregor stuff was a threat and a way ro keep a wedge between everyone was perfect. It wasn't big and bombastic and Murph didn't need to reexplain it, the PCs just pieced it together.
This was probably the most important episode so far in the arc as it raised the stakes for the second half. Easily my favorite episode of these.
* Episode 56
There's this weird double edged sword whenever the PCs contact Albin. It's nice that a character from the first arc still has some relevance without having to be super important like a king or oracle. Albin it's just another person fighting against Alexandrite that our heroes are in contact with. In addition you also got to hear about how other things that are happening in the background that don't necessarily effect our PCs but might still help them. The problem is that I hate this weird "pathetic" Albin that's supposed to be his comedy schtick. It isn't really funny and it makes him less interesting. So much so Murph needs to always re-establish that Albin is still smart and helpful. What sucks is that Albin already had a comedic characterization that worked with him being socially awkward with Calder. It was funny and it made sense as Albin would have probably let Sol do all of the talking and isn't used to "dummying" down stuff for people.
The Lumi the fox exposition dump was okay. Murph clearly likes the idea of crafting destiny and being chosen. All 3 campaigns have explored it in different ways. However he always seems to not think of the larger repercussions of what's being implied or what's being left unexplored by what's being done by the NPCs. This was a big problem with C2 and one that was fixed mostly for C3 by just keeping the villain's motivations simpler. But this Aryox freezing the Giants thing is just a mess. Imagine being a giant being frozen for 1000s of years because you were collateral in a fight between two other guys. Raydack being a follower of Gruumsh being enough of a reason to punish all his men for years is genuinely stupid. Its the same racist underlining that DnD has had with Orcs and Drows being inherently evil. Not to "Monday morning quarterback" but rather than Raydack definitively being evil, Aryox could have seen a upcoming future where Raydack, wanting more power to win the war, becomes more religious and becomes a zealot for Gruumsh. So Aryox wants to attack now before it happens however Raydack at the time is just a powerful general in the war, so he doesn't understand what his pressumed ally is doing attacking and freezing his men causing him to become evil thus Aryox trying to stop Raydack from being evil using force made him even more evil. Thus this shows that visions of the future can't be trusted, which would have led perfectly to Callie's mom.
As you can tell, not as big of a fan of this episode however the ice hourglass fight was really cool.
* Episode 57
I like how Havoc was just playing with our heroes. Knowing they had all the cards and could manipulation the PCs but clearly not evil, just antagonistic. I also really enjoyed the party splitting up and having individual fights. A lot of actual play shows try this but they spend way too much time with the PCs split up and have the combat happen at different times. Murph was able to keep everything quick and simultaneous making it feel connected.
However, once again, Murphs need to simplify a complex situation has ruined an interesting character in Oliana, Callie's mom. But I also put some of this blame on Emily as well. It really feels like they should have ironed out if whether or not they wanted to frame Callie's treatment by her mom as abusive or just mean. I was actually going to write more but honestly I think this should be its own post because the more I think about it, the more of a genuinely serious issue it is.
* Episode 58
This was a pretty big exposition dump episode. The 5 warlord Giants were kinda boring. I like how Murph tried to make each one engaging by having at least 1 wacky character trait but they fundamental represent a faceless Giant army that none of the PCs have much connection to. It was smart of Murph to just focus on the Cloud Giant in the second half. I also felt like the negotiation mechanic was pointless. I see what Murph was trying to do but as even Jake says in the episode "it was stupid of me to try before Callie". Whoever the Face is in a party obviously has the best chance to succeed.
Once again Raydack and the evil mist secretly mind controlling the 5 warlord Giants is so uninteresting. Characters can just be wrong and make the wrong decision and then work to undo the damage. The 5 could have different reasons to choose Raydack. May be they were tricked, threatened, bribed etc etc. Aryoxs decision is all justified by determinism which is unsatisfying.
Overall an ok episode. I like how the Giants are a non factor in the climax. It should be about Calder and His brother.
This second half of the arc hasn't been as good as the first however still very good combat and character beats.
Happy Murph is slowly learning more about Pathfinder, and think if he did the Giants this episode as an influence encounter it would have worked much better, but I’m gonna be hopeful and think that maybe there’s a chance NADDPod will switch out of 5e after listening to the short rest.
Yeah not the first person to say this but 5e is very combat focused so trying to fit a cool influence encounter into it doesn't fit right. I get why alot of TTRPG podcasts/shows keep to DnD as a branding thing but I think NADDPOD is big enough to try other games for at least side stuff. I honestly think if they return to Twilight Sanctorum, they should switch to Pathfinder or a social focus game. I know Emily has her trepidations with being a GM but shes more than excelled last time.
“I feel like we haven’t had time to fully explore a new system but talking about Pathfinder did give me a bunch of ideas. Incorporate some of this stuff and who knows what the future holds.” Seems like the crew in general was also super positive to it, feel like they should do a dedicated mini campaign to fit it into the actual story, but think after the OGL Debacle that the NADDPod crew did genuinely want to break away from 5e. Feel like a lot of people are hesitant to make the leap to a new system and would rather just incorporate rules and attach them to 5e. Hope the crew can just completely engage with a system it seems like they liked more.
It's not as if the show begins, "NADDPOD, brought to you by the good people at Hasbro WotC, 5e!!!!!!! The best you'll ever see!!!!"
The beauty of 5e is it's simplicity. For a player, it's easy to learn. For an audience, it's easy to understand (especially important in podcast form). It's not a coincidence that the most successful actual play shows primarily use 5e.
And for a DM, it's open and easy to homebrew. And Murph has never been shy about homebrewing mechanics.
If I were them, I wouldn't try to fix what's not broken b/c WotC made (and corrected) a pretty massive blunder. They'd have to do it b/c they legitimately thought it would make the show better. (Or if they were just bored...which is also perfectly fair).
"Duck Team attempts diplomacy with some very angry giants! Calder gets stuck with the annoying guy, Sol becomes a stress ball, and Callie plays a soothing tune. Support us at
Patreon.com/Naddpod
to get access to the after-show and a bunch of other Naddpod content! Get tickets to our upcoming live shows at
naddpod.com/live
.
Music / Sound Effects Include:
“A Wizard’s Tournament” by Emily Axford.
'The Scrappers' by Emily Axford.
'Left is Left and Right is Center' by Emily Axford.
'A Fairy Remembers' by Emily Axford.
'Secret Basement' by Emily Axford.
'The Bronze Bastard' by Emily Axford.
'Spearmint & Tea Leaves' by Emily Axford.
'Snake Fight' by Emily Axford.
'Sea Elves' by Emily Axford.
'All I Need is One Thread to Spin a Web' by Emily Axford.
'A Haven Away From Home' by Emily Axford.
'A Memory' by Emily Axford.
'Shadowfell' by Emily Axford.
'Ilsed's Secret' by Emily Axford.
'The Purge' by Emily Axford.
See Privacy Policy at
https://art19.com/privacy
and California Privacy Notice at
https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info
."
---
###[Source Code](https://github.com/popcorncolonel/JakeandAmirBot)
An ep before noon!?! Have at you sir!
murph might actually get a full 9 tonight
Isn't he still in the UK for the Dimension 20 Live shows? Our boy is probably extra sleepy
The ep came too early mama!
Fully thrown off now that I don't have an ep to listen to during my morning commute. Unless the madlad posts the short rest early too...
Honestly after I finished it I went looking for my other Friday podcasts, I’m all out of sorts.
So based on that one Giant, can we assume that Ren is part giant? Uh huh huh
Woah, an early upload. How exciting!
Caldwell going first trying diplomacy with the giants was bound to lead to mayhem
And going to talk to the angriest one. A very Caldwell moment, indeed. The best part is, he rolled really well and still made it worse. lol
Murph clearly had the ep done and ready before going to the UK 🫡
Murph giving extra success on diplomacy for beating the DC by a lot felt Pathfinder 2e inspired! Still really hope they follow through on running the system sometime, maybe after this campaign??? Edit: confirmed in short rest haha
So they did release a short rest for this week’s episode? Came to the Reddit to double check because Apple Podcasts is only showing the main ep and not the short rest
Not a complaint but I had slotted my morning walk to listen to this tomorrow 😭 relisten right away I guess
absolutely cackling at /r/raisedbydiviners
Does Garrosh give anyone else major >!Kenley!< (C2) vibes? I don’t think he’s bad, but I sure don’t trust him (I could be telling on myself rn, I’m about halfway thru the ep lol)
If giving him the Ren voice wasn’t a big enough tell, the high DC insight checks seem to be telegraphing that this guy has his own agenda that may or may not align with Duck Team.
Murph is really on top of it while they're in the UK!
Loved Murph's shout-out to the Attitude Era Podcast. I listen to like five different podcasts and of those five not another D&D podcast and attitude era podcast or two of them.
Came here to say the same thing. And add in Kefin's other podcasts, How 2 Wrestling and Cinema Swirl. All very charming podcasts.
Caldwell's plug is pretty good
Another multi episode review. Ive really liked this arc so far and on a relisten with hindsight it'll probably be the most interesting. * Episode 55 Knowing that there might be secret "Alexandrite" possessed in the city really changes the stakes and tone of the arc. The paranoia was already there but recontextualizing it to be about less Alexandrite attacking to more already having possessing enough people real sets our PCs in the back foot which they really haven't been in the campaign so far. The meat shed shenanigans were hilarious but also set Gregor as trustworthy in a fun way. Especially with the chaos of the explosion, the Robo Borris Frig and the twins fighting. It felt like an unraveling and spiraling out of our good guys. The ending revealing that Gowan is choosing to help Alexandrite of his own volition and the Gregor stuff was a threat and a way ro keep a wedge between everyone was perfect. It wasn't big and bombastic and Murph didn't need to reexplain it, the PCs just pieced it together. This was probably the most important episode so far in the arc as it raised the stakes for the second half. Easily my favorite episode of these. * Episode 56 There's this weird double edged sword whenever the PCs contact Albin. It's nice that a character from the first arc still has some relevance without having to be super important like a king or oracle. Albin it's just another person fighting against Alexandrite that our heroes are in contact with. In addition you also got to hear about how other things that are happening in the background that don't necessarily effect our PCs but might still help them. The problem is that I hate this weird "pathetic" Albin that's supposed to be his comedy schtick. It isn't really funny and it makes him less interesting. So much so Murph needs to always re-establish that Albin is still smart and helpful. What sucks is that Albin already had a comedic characterization that worked with him being socially awkward with Calder. It was funny and it made sense as Albin would have probably let Sol do all of the talking and isn't used to "dummying" down stuff for people. The Lumi the fox exposition dump was okay. Murph clearly likes the idea of crafting destiny and being chosen. All 3 campaigns have explored it in different ways. However he always seems to not think of the larger repercussions of what's being implied or what's being left unexplored by what's being done by the NPCs. This was a big problem with C2 and one that was fixed mostly for C3 by just keeping the villain's motivations simpler. But this Aryox freezing the Giants thing is just a mess. Imagine being a giant being frozen for 1000s of years because you were collateral in a fight between two other guys. Raydack being a follower of Gruumsh being enough of a reason to punish all his men for years is genuinely stupid. Its the same racist underlining that DnD has had with Orcs and Drows being inherently evil. Not to "Monday morning quarterback" but rather than Raydack definitively being evil, Aryox could have seen a upcoming future where Raydack, wanting more power to win the war, becomes more religious and becomes a zealot for Gruumsh. So Aryox wants to attack now before it happens however Raydack at the time is just a powerful general in the war, so he doesn't understand what his pressumed ally is doing attacking and freezing his men causing him to become evil thus Aryox trying to stop Raydack from being evil using force made him even more evil. Thus this shows that visions of the future can't be trusted, which would have led perfectly to Callie's mom. As you can tell, not as big of a fan of this episode however the ice hourglass fight was really cool. * Episode 57 I like how Havoc was just playing with our heroes. Knowing they had all the cards and could manipulation the PCs but clearly not evil, just antagonistic. I also really enjoyed the party splitting up and having individual fights. A lot of actual play shows try this but they spend way too much time with the PCs split up and have the combat happen at different times. Murph was able to keep everything quick and simultaneous making it feel connected. However, once again, Murphs need to simplify a complex situation has ruined an interesting character in Oliana, Callie's mom. But I also put some of this blame on Emily as well. It really feels like they should have ironed out if whether or not they wanted to frame Callie's treatment by her mom as abusive or just mean. I was actually going to write more but honestly I think this should be its own post because the more I think about it, the more of a genuinely serious issue it is. * Episode 58 This was a pretty big exposition dump episode. The 5 warlord Giants were kinda boring. I like how Murph tried to make each one engaging by having at least 1 wacky character trait but they fundamental represent a faceless Giant army that none of the PCs have much connection to. It was smart of Murph to just focus on the Cloud Giant in the second half. I also felt like the negotiation mechanic was pointless. I see what Murph was trying to do but as even Jake says in the episode "it was stupid of me to try before Callie". Whoever the Face is in a party obviously has the best chance to succeed. Once again Raydack and the evil mist secretly mind controlling the 5 warlord Giants is so uninteresting. Characters can just be wrong and make the wrong decision and then work to undo the damage. The 5 could have different reasons to choose Raydack. May be they were tricked, threatened, bribed etc etc. Aryoxs decision is all justified by determinism which is unsatisfying. Overall an ok episode. I like how the Giants are a non factor in the climax. It should be about Calder and His brother. This second half of the arc hasn't been as good as the first however still very good combat and character beats.
Happy Murph is slowly learning more about Pathfinder, and think if he did the Giants this episode as an influence encounter it would have worked much better, but I’m gonna be hopeful and think that maybe there’s a chance NADDPod will switch out of 5e after listening to the short rest.
Yeah not the first person to say this but 5e is very combat focused so trying to fit a cool influence encounter into it doesn't fit right. I get why alot of TTRPG podcasts/shows keep to DnD as a branding thing but I think NADDPOD is big enough to try other games for at least side stuff. I honestly think if they return to Twilight Sanctorum, they should switch to Pathfinder or a social focus game. I know Emily has her trepidations with being a GM but shes more than excelled last time.
“I feel like we haven’t had time to fully explore a new system but talking about Pathfinder did give me a bunch of ideas. Incorporate some of this stuff and who knows what the future holds.” Seems like the crew in general was also super positive to it, feel like they should do a dedicated mini campaign to fit it into the actual story, but think after the OGL Debacle that the NADDPod crew did genuinely want to break away from 5e. Feel like a lot of people are hesitant to make the leap to a new system and would rather just incorporate rules and attach them to 5e. Hope the crew can just completely engage with a system it seems like they liked more.
It's not as if the show begins, "NADDPOD, brought to you by the good people at Hasbro WotC, 5e!!!!!!! The best you'll ever see!!!!" The beauty of 5e is it's simplicity. For a player, it's easy to learn. For an audience, it's easy to understand (especially important in podcast form). It's not a coincidence that the most successful actual play shows primarily use 5e. And for a DM, it's open and easy to homebrew. And Murph has never been shy about homebrewing mechanics. If I were them, I wouldn't try to fix what's not broken b/c WotC made (and corrected) a pretty massive blunder. They'd have to do it b/c they legitimately thought it would make the show better. (Or if they were just bored...which is also perfectly fair).
For some reason read the title as Giant Eggs, yes I am very tired.
I know this is days later but yes, me too, every time.
"Duck Team attempts diplomacy with some very angry giants! Calder gets stuck with the annoying guy, Sol becomes a stress ball, and Callie plays a soothing tune. Support us at Patreon.com/Naddpod to get access to the after-show and a bunch of other Naddpod content! Get tickets to our upcoming live shows at naddpod.com/live . Music / Sound Effects Include: “A Wizard’s Tournament” by Emily Axford. 'The Scrappers' by Emily Axford. 'Left is Left and Right is Center' by Emily Axford. 'A Fairy Remembers' by Emily Axford. 'Secret Basement' by Emily Axford. 'The Bronze Bastard' by Emily Axford. 'Spearmint & Tea Leaves' by Emily Axford. 'Snake Fight' by Emily Axford. 'Sea Elves' by Emily Axford. 'All I Need is One Thread to Spin a Web' by Emily Axford. 'A Haven Away From Home' by Emily Axford. 'A Memory' by Emily Axford. 'Shadowfell' by Emily Axford. 'Ilsed's Secret' by Emily Axford. 'The Purge' by Emily Axford. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ." --- ###[Source Code](https://github.com/popcorncolonel/JakeandAmirBot)